The imperialism and disability: The social oppression of disability in colonial Korea

By Jaewon Kim

​The turn of the 20th century was a period of transition for many Asian states. The 1868 Meiji Restoration, which ended the Japanese shogunate, transformed Japan into an imperial nation in response to the approaching Western threats. In this process, Japan assimilated itself with the Western states through industrialization and colonization of neighboring political entities. However, the territorial expansion came at a cost. To reinforce military strength, the Japanese government propagated citizens’ loyalty and sacrifices for the greater good—the nation’s imperial ambition—and prioritized economic efficiency over humanism. As a result, the 1920s Japanese society stood as a front of Asian radicalism that opposed the imperialism’s exploitation of human resources and its lack of empathy towards social minorities, although the activism was unsuccessful. Even though the opposition to imperialism was initiated in Japan,which suggests the severity of the civilian oppression, the imperialism’s suppression of its subjects was not limited to mainland Japan. Rather, the exploitation of resources was greater in intensity in Japan’s colonies, especially in Korea, which was colonized by Japan from 1910 to 1945. Considering the characteristics of imperialism that emphasize the functionality of human labor, it is undeniable that the lives of the disabled population were divergent from today’s world, especially if they were part of a colonized demographic.

​As discussed in the previous article, the origin of disability discrimination traces back to the Japanese colonial rule in Korea and the introduction of new terminology to describe the disability. The term ‘Disabled (불구자/Pulguja)’ portrays the Japanese colonial government’s perspective of the disability population as people who are not able to contribute to their imperial cause due to physical and intellectual limitations. This colonial narrative was quick to spread to the public, to the extent that even disability advocates believed disability was a social problem that depraves the social morals [1]. However, the shift in social paradigm was not the only reconstruction of life with disability in Korea. The negative outlook of the disability population soon led to the marginalization of their livelihood as well. The dismantling of the disabled population began with the prohibition of disability specialized jobs that were popularized during the Chosŏn dynasty. For instance, occupations such as fortunetelling and Buddhist service providers, which wereamong the most common careers for the visually impaired, wereprohibited by the colonial government under the pretext of deceiving the people with the introduction of Western civilization [2]. Even though the colonial government offered a new specialized educational opportunity to encourage a career turn from divination and religious profession to the massage business, people who resisted the new colonial policies were constrained to lose their jobs [3]. This development also created division among the blind community, by criticizing each other for being superstitious and colonial collaborators. Similarly, the industrialization under colonial rule hauled away the occupations in hand-craftsmanship, which many disabled population were part of; Thus, leaving marginalized people in long-term unemployment and aftereffects of social oppression[4]. Consequently, often, people with disability faced unfortunate fates, such as being targeted by crime, homelessness, being part of the crime, and self-inflicted death from pessimizing their life [5]. Hence, the Korean society in the colonial epoch considered the disabled population as a threat to society, or as undesirables who did not contribute to social development.

​Under these circumstances, the negative stereotype of disability created by the lack of socio-political support was prevalent not only among the general public but also in the political arena. Although the Japanese colonial government implemented a few welfare policies for the disabled, these practices were relatively ineffective and were made with minimal effort. As outlined earlier, one of the most representative welfare programs by the Japanese colonial government was through the ‘Public Health and Medical Bureau for the Blind and Mute (제생원 맹아부/ Chesaengwŏn maeng a bu),’ which aided and educated the visually impaired to transition their career into the massage industry. However, the limitation in occupational categories led the older generation and those who are unable to acquire educational opportunities into poverty [6].

Similarly, ‘Regulations on Relief for the Impoverished Using the Royal Benevolent Relief Fund (은사진휼자금 궁민구조규정/ Ŭnsa chinhyul chagŭm Kungmin kujokyujŏng)’ implemented in 1916 had a multitude of flaws. First, framing that the welfare was charity work for the Japanese royals created a rhetoric that the disabled population was less than others [7]. This narrative may have sounded true in the eyes of the imperial government, which prioritized the able-bodied who could participate in its wartime efforts. Yet, through this act, the Japanese colonial government only provided permission to the public to dehumanize the disabled population. Second, the regulation was mainly aimed at providing immediate relief by distributing the funds rather than supporting long-term independence [8]. Therefore, the policy was unable to break the cycle of marginalization of the disability community. Lastly, the practicality of the law was lacking. The records suggest only 35 people in 1916, 1,521 people in 1918, and 1,855 people in 1927 benefited from the program [9], indicating many were not informed or denied as recipients. As such, unlike Chosŏn, which prioritized the independence of the marginalized population through the structured administrative policies, the Japanese colonial government’s disregard of the disabled population instead produced an endless cycle of socio-economic barriers to the people who were deemed as ‘undesirable’ in their propaganda.

​The 20th-century colonial imperialism was a time of great difficulty for countless people. Some were forced onto the battlefields, while others were exploited in the war-supply manufacturing industry. However, in the age that highlights the economic prosperity and commodities, especially human labor, the disability population lost their human dignity and were degraded due to their differences. Traditional occupations in various fields lost their value due to the influx of Western civilization and industrialization, and the transition period excluded people with disabilities from the general demographic. Furthermore, their physical and intellectual limitations exposed them to crime in times of need. Given these conditions, even though the epoch of imperialism was a temporary phenomenon, the negative connotation created during this time on the term ‘disabled’ still remains, and the discrimination towards disabled people is lingering as a part of the colonial legacy; Therefore, the Japanese imperialism can be seen as the origin of modern Korea’s exclusion of disability demographic.

Work Cited

[1], [3], [6], [7], [8] O, Seyŏng (Oh, Seyoung). “Ilje kangjŏm ki changaein ŭi salm kwa pokji chŏngch’aek -chosŏn ch’ongtokbuŭi changae insik e taehan pip’anjŏk koch’alǔl chungsim e ro-” 일제강점기 장애인의 삶과 복지정책 -조선총독부의 장애인식에 대한 비판적 고찰을 중심으로- [The life and welfare policies of people with disabilities in Japanese colonial period; Centering around the Critical consideration on Disability Recognition by the Japanese Government-General of Korea]. Wonbulgyo sasangkwa chonggyo munhwa 원불교사상과 종교문화Vol. 103 (2025):171-200.

[2], [4], [5] Chŏng, Ch’anggwon (Jeong, Chang-guen). “Sinmuncharyo ro ponŭn ilje kangjŏmgi changaein saenghwalsa” 신문자료로 보는 일제강점기 장애인 생활사 [Life of disabled during the Japanese colonial period in newspaper materials]. Journal of Korean Culture 한국어문학국제학술포럼 Vol. 32 (February 2016): 119-154.

[9] Pak, Kwangjun (박광준). Hanguk sahoe pokji yŏksa ron 한국사회 복지 역사론 [Historical Theory on Korean Social Welfare], Paju: Yangsŏwŏn 양서원, 2013.

1